Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem in the United States. If control of hyperglycemia is desirable in this disease then identification of simple, convenient and safe methods to achieve this are important. Dietary intervention would seem particularly crucial in this regard. In this proposal we wish to investigate the effects of different kinds of dietary starches on postprandial plasma glucose and insulin responses in different groups of diabetic patients. We have already found that different kinds of dietary starch elicit different postprandial plasma glucose and insulin responses in normal subjects. Thus, plasma glucose and insulin responses following the ingestion of rice starch are much lower than those seen following ingestion of potato starch. The main goal of this research proposal is to test the hypothesis that these differences would be further exaggerated in diabetic patients and that starches which elicit the lowest plasma glucose responses in normal subjects might be of significant benefit in controlling the postprandial hyperglycemia in diabetic patients. Therefore, we propose to examine the effects of different kinds of dietary starches on postprandial plasma glucose, insulin and glucagon levels of these patients.